Bettie Allen:

Bettie Allen helped enforce civil rights in the area of hiring. She was the first full-time director of the Human Relations Commission and, as a board member of the YWCA, she traveled to Kenya to train young Africans to run YWCA hostels.

Bettie Allen

She’s also responsible for helping form the People’s Bank, which was the first bank on the east side of Springfield.

Listen

Bettie Allen talks about why she's
a lifelong blood donor and why African-Americans distrusted the blood bank (2:01)